Watch Pastor Maldonado's Cousin Battle For A Win In The MRF Challenge

Pastor Maldonado may have been out of racing for a while, but his cousin Manuel is making his way up the racing ladder. Earlier this year he looked like a chip off the old block when he hit two cars in one corner in a British F3 race.

Now he’s racing in the MRF Challenge, which had its first round in Bahrain this weekend, and in one of the races he found himself leading most of the way, and even staying there until the start of the final lap.

With two cars close behind him though Maldonado (in the green and white No.12 car) had his work cut out and it ended up being a pretty mega final lap.

And you thought F1 was bad when it came to cutting away from battles…

Maldonado couldn’t hold onto first as Felipe Drugovich passed him, and then he struggled to keep Presley Martono behind him on the last lap. Even forcing him off the circuit didn’t work, as Martono managed to pip him to second by just 0.01 seconds.

The MRF Challenge runs through the F1 off-season and there are 12 more races to go. Brace yourself: Maldonado moments are coming…